Marlins draft Texas fireballer Tyler Kolek

The last time the Miami Marlins had the second overall pick in baseball's amateur draft they selected a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher from rural Texas in 1999.

All Josh Beckett did was help them win the World Series in 2003, pitching a shutout in the clinching victory.

The Marlins are banking on another strong-armed Texan after selecting Tyler Kolek with the second pick in the annual talent grab Thursday.

Kolek, from Shepherd, Texas, is bigger and throws harder than Beckett. Stan Meek, Marlins vice president of scouting, compared him to an even more accomplished pitcher from Texas.

"You hate to put these kind of names on him, but you kind of see some Roger Cemens in his delivery, in the power delivery that he has," Meek said. "He's just way bigger than Roger.

"We've seen the fastball up to 102 miles per hour. Not that velocity is everything. It's a power body and a power arm. We like everything about him, really."

At 6 feet 5 1/2, 255 pounds, Kolek is an imposing presence, and he is still developing physically. He didn't begin topping 100 until after he missed most of his junior season with a broken left (non-pitching) arm, when his velocity suddenly shot up from the mid-90s.

"I was just blown away," he said.

The selection was somewhat of a surprise too. With the Houston Astros opening with the expected pick of left-hander Brady Aiken, another high school pitcher, out of California, the prevailing thought was the Marlins would take Miami-born pitcher Carlos Rodon. The left-hander from North Carolina State is regarded as closest to major league ready among the eligible talent pool.

There was also speculation the Marlins might elect to fill a void in the organization for hitting prospects and opt for Alex Jackson, a prep catcher from San Diego considered the top hitter available.

They saw more long-term potential in Kolek eventually forming a 1-2 punch with Jose Fernandez at the top of their rotation.

"I had no idea what was going to happen," Kolek said by phone from his family's 10,000-acre cattle ranch about an hour's drive from Houston. "It would be lovely to go first overall, but it was just great to be picked by anybody. It's been a blessing."

Since he began regularly reaching hitting triple digits with his fastball during his senior year, Kolek has been hearing the comparisons to Clemens and another famous Texas fireballer, Nolan Ryan. The latter, now an executive advisor to the Astros owner, came to Kolek's final high school game.

"It's been a dream to even know them, and then to be compared to them was just unbelievable," said Kolek said, who takes pride in lighting up scouts radar guns.

"There's not many people that can throw 100, much less a little above it. That's just unheard of," he said, attributing it to his upbringing on the ranch. "You have to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to feed cattle or fix a fence. It's hot out here; it gets up to 105, 110 degrees with humidity. I think it makes you a lot tougher than the average high school kid."

The Marlins were impressed with Kolek's work ethic, which included driving three hours round-trip, three times a week to work with a personal trainer.

"For such a big man, he's got a very quiet, easy delivery, which should equate to a plus strike thrower," said Meek, who visited Kolek and his family at the ranch in January.

In his senior season, Kolek struck out 126 in 60 1/3 innings with only eight walks while compiling a 5-2 record with a 0.35 ERA.

He throws a sharp-breaking curveball, but will need to throw it more consistently for strikes, and refine his changeup in order to move quickly through the Marlins' organization. Meek said he sees the talent and makeup to make the rapid ascension to Miami, a place Kolek has never been.

"It sounds like a wonderful place to be," he said. "I hope to be there very soon."

The Marlins, with a compensatory first-round pick at No. 36, took Blake Anderson, a power-hitting catcher from West Lauderdale High in Collinsville, Miss. They finished the first of three days by selecting another high school player from Texas, Justin Twine, a shortstop from Falls City High School with their second-round pick at No. 43.